Immigration laws dry up farming work force

Emerging from the offices of a Midwestern senator last Friday, Sharon Hughes and Bruce Goldstein made for an unlikely couple. Hughes is the chief lobbyist for a coalition of agribusiness interests. Goldstein is a longtime advocate for farm worker rights. For much of the past two decades, the two were on opposite sides of the negotiating table.

Now they are allies in a heated, and hurried, campaign to pass legislation offering legal status to more than 1.2 million immigrant workers. They face tough opposition from members of Congress who favor strict restrictions on immigration.

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The Hughes/Goldstein partnership is an unusual story in Washington: seemingly intractable foes deciding to work together toward a common goal.

“It is a little weird. We do still disagree on a lot of major issues,” Goldstein said. “But we reached the same conclusion: We had to put aside our differences. The political reality is that we can’t pass everything we’d like on our own.”

“When we were divided, it was very partisan,” Hughes said. “Coming together, we’ve been able to reach that sweet middle of a compromise.”

Like that other Odd Couple, Oscar and Felix, Hughes and Goldstein were forced into their unusual partnership by circumstance. An increase in government immigration raids and tighter border controls, which surged after Sept. 11, has disrupted the decades-old system of seasonal migration that supplied American farms with labor.

The crackdowns left both growers and workers badly in need of relief. The shortfall of workers is estimated at 20 percent, forcing farmers to forgo planting and let fields lie fallow. (The fields then become likely candidates to be converted into housing subdivisions.)

The legislation that Goldstein and Hughes are pushing, called AgJOBS, shorthand for the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits and Security Act, has attracted broad support, including from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and more than 800 other organizations, such as church groups, as well as state agriculture officials.

“Without AgJOBS, there will be shortages, crops will rot and American agriculture could face significant disruption,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein said in a statement.

The California Democrat has been busily schmoozing her fellow senators, including sympathetic Republicans, to build support for the bill.

She may try to add it to the farm bill or an omnibus appropriations bill, according to her staff. “We must get to 60 votes and ensure that there is a stable and reliable source of labor for American agriculture,” Feinstein said.

On Oct. 16, the chamber sent a letter to members of Congress warning that the current “enforcement-only approach” to immigration policy is causing American businesses, and jobs, to move overseas, not only in the agricultural sector but also in the economy that surrounds it, such as equipment manufacturers and distributors and financial services.

Despite the bill’s broad backing from business and labor, however, stiff opposition remains.

“That’s the same group that supported [immigration reform] last summer,” Sen. Jeff Sessions said in an interview, referring to the comprehensive immigration overhaul that contained a version of AgJOBS and that was defeated despite strong support from the Bush administration. “I don’t believe AgJOBS has any chance of passing.

“You have to have a lawful system and not reward those who came illegally,” Sessions said. The Alabama Republican claims the bill would lead to citizenship for 3.3 million farm workers and their families.

In an attempt to allay the accusations by Sessions and others, such as Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), that the AgJOBS legislation would provide “amnesty” to people who broke the law, the bill would require illegal migrant workers to pay a substantial fine and to remain in U.S. agriculture for three to five years before they can earn legal status.

Instead, Sessions favors increasing the use of the existing guest worker program, known as H2A, while reserving immigration slots for highly educated immigrants who speak English.